The present invention relates generally to the treatment of high-polymer materials and, more particularly, to a method of affecting an exposed surface of a high-polymer material so as to impart to it a desired appearance and/or texture.
For reasons well known to those skilled in the art, the surfaces of various high-polymer materials frequently do not have or cannot be given a color effect, structural effect or textural effect which it is desired for them to have. Particularly high-polymer materials of a textile nature are, however, frequently in need of having a certain surface texture, structure of color imparted to them. Methods are known for obtaining shrink texture effects on decorative fabrics of glass fibers, in some cases even coupled with multi-coloration of the textile surface. However, these approaches require a chemical or chemical-thermal treatment of the textile materials in question and it has been found that, although they work properly with decorative textiles of glass fibers, they are not suitable for other fabrics and for other fibers.
Similarly, methods for texturing or structuring exposed surfaces of sheet materials are known which are essentially based on a mechanical-thermal deformation of the material, for instance, by the use of hot collanders, by means of profiled calender rollers, or else based upon the differential shrinking capacity of two or several different fiber components. Another approach is to subject synthetic plastic fibers and materials made from them, such as textiles or the like, to radiation which causes them to shrink to a certain extent. The shrinkage depends upon various factors, including the quantity of radiation, the type of fibrous material, and other factors. However, because textiles and similar materials so treated have a homogenous shrinkage factor, surface texturing or structuring is not attainable in this manner.
Finally, it is known to subject high-polymer materials to a combined radiation-chemical treatment, particularly to radiation-initiated grafting of vinyl compounds, which can lead to a change in the color acceptance or absorption abilities of the material. This, however, does not lead to texturing or structuring of the surfaces of materials thus treated.